Christian Wade's venture into the world of American football is thrusting the 27-year-old into an unforgiving world.

That is the view of former Coventry Jets player and current general manager Lawrence Grugeon, who has tipped the Premiership's third-highest try scorer to make an international spot on an NFL team's roster.

Christian Wade of Wasps is tackled by Luke James of Sale during the Aviva Premiership match between Sale Sharks (Image: Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

One mistake and he's gone

"If he's got the ability, I've no doubt he will get the international spot on someone's roster," said Grugeon. "But to actually make an active roster on game day is going to be huge. It's a huge task for anybody coming from outside the sport.

"Wade's height is small for an American footballer. There's only one position he can play and that is running back.

All-time leading Premiership try scorers

92 -Tom Varndell

90 - Mark Cueto

82 - Christian Wade

80 - Chris Ashton

75 - Steve Hanley

"If he makes one mistake he's gone. He will do the hard work to get there, but if he makes one fumble, one injury, he's gone.

"He's got one shot, he's going to have to really use that shot to prove everything in such a short space of time if he wants it to be sustainable."

Grugeon played for Coventry Jets between 2001 and 2012 winning a National Championship in 2008.

After winning a further title with Shropshire Revolution in 2017, Grugeon ended his playing days in the position Wade is most likely to occupy if he does switch sports to American football; a running back.

Although by the 37-year-old's admission, he was 'an average player at best'.

People just want to kill you

"It's probably one of the hardest positions in football," said the Nuneaton resident, who at 5ft 7in is the same height as Wade.

"You have to be durable because you are getting beaten, beaten and beaten it's as simple as that. You've got to have footwork, you've got to have speed, you've got to have ball security.

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"It's a position anyone can be put into, but you have the least amount of years in the game in that position because you take such a beating.

"There's people who just want to kill you, head hunt you, strip the ball from you. Taking your legs, taking your top. It is a hard position to play. Top tier running backs have up until they're 30 then they're replaced by a 20-year-old. Most running backs have two to three years in the league, maximum."

At 5ft 6in tall he's shorter than Wade but has enjoyed a hugely successful NFL career including a Super Bowl win last year against the New England Patriots.

However, like the overwhelming majority of American football players who make the elite level, Sproles is a product of the college football system, graduating from Olathe North High School before playing for Kansas State. He was picked up by San Diego Chargers as a round four NFL draft pick in 2005.

Freak of an athlete

The size of the task ahead for Wade can be measured by the sheer volume of aspiring stars who do not make the grade.

"You look at kids from the ages of eight years old or even younger in some States playing Pee Wee football and these are kids are growing up with football," said the 37-year-old. "It's not just a case of 'we fancy playing it', this sport to Americans is religion.

Wasps' Christian Wade scores a try

"Especially somewhere like the State of Texas. High-school games are getting bigger crowds than some English Premier League football teams. That's the state of the game, the whole community gets behind the thing.

"With Wade aged 27 he is going to be competing against people who have been playing the sport since they were eight and groomed all the way through.

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"These kids are playing high-school football, only five per cent of those players get picked to play at colleges, one per cent of those will be the top thirty colleges.

"Out of half a million student athletes, only one per cent of those will even be considered for the NFL.

"Come the age of 27, no matter how much a freak of an athlete you are, you're coming into a sport where people have been playing for 20 years before you."

Trailblazing Brits

There is plenty of reason for optimism, however.

Osi Umenyiora

With NFL boasting a huge fan base in the United Kingdom and multiple international series matches regularly filling out Wembley Stadium, the lure of a big-name English player from another sport would make a lot of commercial sense.

Osi Umenyiora (NY Giants) Jay Ajiyi (Philadelphia Eagles) Efe Obada (Carolina Panthers) are players with British links trailblazing a path in the NFL and Grugeon is convinced there is room for more.